When the next pandemic hits, will we be ready?

That’s the question at the center of University of Minnesota epidemiologist Mike Osterholm’s new book, “The Big One.” And his answer is sobering.

He and coauthor, documentarian Mark Olshaker, chronicle the the mistakes made during COVID-19. For example, once public health leaders knew the virus was an aerosol, why waste money on plexiglass separators and a six-foot rule? Why lockdown at a statewide level instead of having “snow days” for when hospitals are near capacity?

Maybe most importantly: How can public health do a better job communicating the facts in a society rife with misinformation?

Learning what went right and what went wrong is more than theoretically for Osterholm. He believes we will need those lessons to survive the next pandemic.

Minnesota’s leading disease detective joins Kerri Miller on this week’s Big Books and Bold Ideas for an hour of honest reckoning and personal reflection. COVID-19 changed us all. But did it do anything to prepare us for the next pandemic?

Guest:

• Mike Osterholm is the founding founding director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. His new book, written with coauthor Mark Olshaker, is “The Big One: How We Must Prepare for Future Deadly Pandemics.”

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